Her smile dropped. “I never thought you were a lowlife, Chance.”
“Just a troublemaker.”
She laughed. “Considering the time you spent in the principal’s office, detention and suspended, I think it was a fair assessment.”
“People see what they want. The minute you get in trouble once, you’re always being pulled into the lineup.”
He’d taken the blame—and the punishment—for a lot of things in his life, stuff anyone with a better name or a little more privilege would’ve fought back on.
“Doesn’t seem to me you’re in that lineup much now,” she said.
“Perception.”
He moved to pack up and bring everything to his car. He’d return it to the fire department in the morning when he went in for his shift.
“Do you ever get any time off?”
“Yes,” he said. “If I make the time.”
She nodded and walked around to pick up the manikins with him. He could tell her no, but she’d do her own thing like she always did.
He didn’t mind the company either.
“How often are you at the fire department?”
“Every other day for a twenty-four-hour shift for nine days. Then I get six days off.”
“And those six days you’re working at the bar?”
“Usually,” he said. “Unless I’ve got a reason to take a night off. What about you?”
“I get nights and weekends off,” she said. “But I go in early and stay late. Depends what is going on.”
He didn’t think she’d be the type to take shortcuts or the easy way out of work just because it was a family-owned business.
She was putting the manikins in the bag with him, then gathering the rest of the stuff.
He picked the bag up over his shoulder to carry. It wasn’t heavy, just awkward.
“Is there a reason you wanted to know?”
She shrugged. “Just curious.”
“Oh,” he said. “I thought maybe you were hinting at me to ask you out.”
“Boy, you’re a smart one.”
He laughed. “You really want to go out with me on a date?”
“Do you need me to ask you so you believe it?”
“Sure,” he said. He didn’t remember the last time a woman had asked him for a date.
To her bed? A night of fun? Yeah, that happened. But not an actual date.
Been a while since he’d had one himself.
She snorted. “Chance, would you like to go to dinner sometime?”
